Mediaboss Marketing

As a boy growing up in the 1950s in Massachusetts, my father and I used to go into Boston to Red Sox games and to attend political meetings and state Democratic conventions. We would often go through Belmont, down Concord Ave., past the high school, a bit of a short cut. We would pass a small non-descript brick building that my father told me was the home of the John Birch Society.

During the period of the 50s and 60s, the John Birch Society was also the home of those who wanted the United States out of the United Nations; they wanted to impeach Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; their leader, Robert Welsh, accused Dwight Eisenhower of deliberate treason; they even urged their members to infiltrate the local P.T.A. and take over school boards (where, by the way, my father served).

They were full of conspiracy theories, centered around anti-Communism, and were convinced that nefarious power brokers were on the verge of creating a one-world government. They were denounced by conservatives like William F. Buckley and even Ayn Rand. Buckleys biographer, John Judis, wrote that Buckley was beginning to worry that the country would take an ugly, even Fascist turn should the Birchers take hold.

I remember my father describing them as the two-percenters that is, only about 2 percent of Americans bought what they were selling. True conservatives rejected them, and Republicans like Barry Goldwater kept their distance. No one really took them that seriously.

As Republicans became more conservative, they argued more and more strongly for less government, greater defense spending and embraced cultural conservatism. They lost northern Republican moderates while gaining seats held by conservative Democratic southerners, but they didnt embrace the complete crazies. They may have tolerated them, but Republicans were still a party that elected presidents and members of Congress who supported free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, a free press, bipartisan cooperation and who rejected violence, overturning elections, undermining democracy. From Eisenhower to Bush, the Republican Party may have left a lot for us Democrats to disagree with, but we would have been hard pressed to describe them as the party with fascist, anti-democratic views and values.

That has changed.

Actions show it: Republican-controlled legislatures passing bills in state after state gaming the system to stop people from voting on the front end and letting them change the election results on the back end; Congressional Republicans allowing an armed insurrection on Jan. 6 to be swept under the rug by rejecting a bipartisan commission; Arizona Republicans continuing the lie about the election results and engaging a phony and fraudulent audit;and too many rank-and-file Republicans falling for and Republican leaders supporting the likes of QAnon, which spreads falsehoods deliberately.

Polls show the destruction of the Republican Party: 70 percent of Republicans dont believe Biden is the legitimate winner of the Presidential election; 23 percent of Republicans believe that government, media and the financial world in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan worshiping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation; 28 percent of Republicans believe things have gotten so far off track, true Patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save the country.

Here is the even bigger problem: When you examine Republicans who get their news from far- right sources and who are strong Trump supporters, 40 percent buy into those QAnon conspiracy theories and support violence. Their numbers are growing.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, speaking recently at a QAnon rally in Dallas, said that we should have an armed coup by the military like what happened in Myanmar.

Where are the Republicans of yesteryear? Where are those who rejected the John Birch Society, who stood up to Joe McCarthy in the 50s, who worked across the aisle to pass landmark Civil Rights legislation? Where are the Republicans of old who knew how to speak truth to power and who convinced Richard Nixon he had to resign for the good of the country? Where are the courageous Republicans who believed in conservatism, like Liz CheneyElizabeth (Liz) Lynn CheneyStefanik pregnant with her first child Bye-bye Miss American Pie whatever happened to the Republican Party and conservatism? The Memo: Trump seizes spotlight to distract from defeat MORE, who would say simply and truthfully, Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump touts record, blasts Dems in return to stage Trump demands China pay 'reparations' for role in coronavirus pandemic Lincoln Project co-founder: Trump's words 'will surely kill again' MORE is President, Trump is not a patriot and does not represent our Party?

And, finally, where are the Republicans who can see that the rise of wild and crazy conspiracy theories they know are false, coupled with blind loyalty to a former president who has more in common with fascist authoritarian dictators than past American presidents, are all leading us rapidly down the road to the destruction of our democracy?

By failing to speak out, failing to acknowledge that this is way beyond who wins and who loses the next elections, you put the nation at real risk.

There is a lot more at stake when you let demagogues run wild and when more and more people buy into the conspiracy theories, a lot more than the two-percenters.

This is scary on the national level when we watch those Republicans in the House and Senate who kowtow to Trump and QAnon; but watch out, as this plays out in those state legislatures, county commissions and school boards. Watch out when statewide offices and elections are run by those who dont believe in democracy and the rule of law as extremism takes hold. It started way before Trump, like the frog put in tepid water and the fire slowly turned up and the frog doesnt jump out.

This has been with us since the John Birch Society, but our problem now is that the Republican Party leaders of conscience are too few and far between to sound the alarm. If there ever was a time to show courage and common sense, it is now.

Peter Fenn is a long-time Democratic political strategist who served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was a top aide to Sen. Frank Church and was the first director of Democrats for the 80s, founded by Pamela Harriman. He also co-founded the Center for Responsive Politics/Open Secrets. Follow him on Twitter@peterhfenn.

Read more:
Bye-bye Miss American Pie whatever happened to the Republican Party and conservatism? | TheHill - The Hill

But they had it completely wrong. At its peak in the Great Recession, the unemployment rate was 10 percent, but it ultimately got down to 3.5 percent without a massively expanded national training program to accelerate skills attainment. What actually slowed growth? Insufficient demand for goods and services, which, in turn, meant low demand for workers not that there werent enough qualified workers. It was a labor demand problem, not a labor supply problem.

This is also true today. Wage growth decelerated in May in most sectors. And in the vast majority of sectors, wages are growing solidly but not fast enough to raise concern about damaging labor shortages, given that job growth is also strong. Further, we still have 7.6 million fewer jobs than we did before Covid and there are large employment gaps in virtually all industries and demographic groups. The good news is that unlike in the wake of the Great Recession, todays labor demand problems are likely to be resolved relatively quickly, thanks to the American Rescue Plan.

While we havent seen widespread labor shortages, there is one sector where wage growth points to the possibility of an isolated one: leisure and hospitality. For typical workers in this sector, which includes restaurants, bars, hotels and recreation, the current weekly wage translates into annual earnings of $20,714. With that figure so low, there is little concern recent pay increases will generate broader pressure on wages. In addition, wages in this sector plummeted in the recession and have largely returned to where theyd be if there were no pandemic. And, these job reports also take tips into account, which means that wage changes in this sector are likely driven by the impact of customers returning, en masse, to in-person dining. On top of all this: Rising wages in leisure and hospitality dont appear to be stymieing job growth, which has been by far the strongest of any sector, contributing three-quarters of the total jobs added in the last two months.

Nevertheless, many commentators have ignored this evidence. They conclude not only that there are widespread shortages, but that the culprit is pandemic unemployment insurance benefits. Governors in 25 Republican-led states have now said they will no longer accept federal unemployment benefits. This will cut aid to nearly four million impacted workers, despite the absence of compelling evidence that jobless benefits are causing problems in the labor market. Instead, we have considerable evidence that it is helpful.

Low-wage sectors have seen swifter job growth than higher-wage sectors in recent months. This is exactly the opposite of what you would expect to find if unemployment benefits were keeping people from working. This is because pandemic programs, like the extra $300 weekly benefit, are worth much more to low-wage workers than to higher-wage workers. Unemployment insurance, then, is not hampering job growth.

Read the original:
Opinion | Republicans, Dont Ignore the Evidence on Labor Shortages - The New York Times

This surge of polarizing legislation is being driven largely by a combination of confidence and fear. Many observers believe that Republican legislators feel emboldened after Democrats in the 2020 election failed to record the state legislative gains they expected. In 2018, as part of the recoil from Trump, Democrats made significant gains in state legislatures, winning control of six legislative chambers and netting more than 300 seats nationwide, many in the white-collar suburbs of major metro areas. But despite unprecedented investment in local races, and Bidens win at the presidential level, the party did not flip any additional chambers last year; Republicans, on net, gained back about half as many seats as they had lost two years earlier and came out of the election with control of both legislative chambers in 30 states, compared with just 18 for Democrats (with one additional state divided and Nebraska officially nonpartisan).

Democrats failure at the state level in 2020 has encouraged GOP legislators to pursue a more aggressive agenda, many observers say. The dynamic is perhaps most visible in Texas. After Democrats won several suburban seats and narrowed the GOP advantage in the Texas State House in 2018, the diminished Republican majority largely muted social issues and focused on bread-and-butter concerns, such as education, during the 2019 session. The GOPs focus shifted back toward cultural issues after Democrats failed to make the further gains both sides anticipated in November. All the expectations in Texas just didnt happen, so the Republican Party emerged with a kind of renewed confidence, says James Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Republicans confidence, Henson adds, was also bolstered by a practical consequence of their 2020 success at holding both of Texass legislative chambers: In that state, as in virtually all of the states turning right this year, Republicans will control the decennial redistricting process. The ability to draw districts that favor them next year reduces their concern about a general-election backlash against their moves even in swing suburban areas. Carisa Lopez, the political director of the Texas Freedom Network, which works to organize young people there, told me, For progressive organizations [Republicans] have been coming at us from all angles, and it has been exhausting. They have done almost everything they can.

David A. Graham: The frightening new Republican consensus

GOP legislators appear to be operating more out of fear that Trumps base of non-college-educated, rural, and evangelical white voters will punish them in primaries if they fail to pursue maximum confrontation against Democrats and liberal constituencies, particularly on issues revolving around culture and race. Very few of the districts are competitive [in a general election], so all they are worried about is being primaried, says John Geer, a political-science professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, one of the states that have advanced the most aggressive conservative agenda this year. Glenn Smith, a longtime Democratic operative in Texas, notes that the states militantly conservative Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has pushed legislators toward his priorities this year in part by persuading them that any moderation risks infuriating an aggrieved Trump base who feels that the election was stolen from them, are fired up, and love the red meat on every issue.

Read more:
How GOP State Legislatures Are Remaking the Country - The Atlantic

Barack Obama on Friday called out GOP voter suppression laws, suggesting companies have a big responsibility to at least speak out against them as some did when new restrictions were introduced in Georgia in March.

During a virtual Economic Club of Chicago event, the former president said Republican-sponsored bills being introduced nationwide and GOP support of ex-president Donald Trumps election lies were the kind of dangerous behavior that were going to have to push back on.

It transcends policy, he said.

It really has to do with the basic rules by which we all have agreed to keep this diverse, multiracial democracy functioning, Obama added.

Are we going to stick to those rules or are we going to start rigging the game in a way that breaks it? he asked. And thats not going to be good for business, not to mention not good for our soul.

Watch the full interview here:

Continue reading here:
Barack Obama Warns Of Republicans Rigging The Game - HuffPost

AUSTIN, Texas Texas Republicans on Monday resumed their push to pass a major voting bill with an array of restrictions, moving the bill to a closed-door panel of lawmakers who will hash out the final version of the legislation.

But much of the suspense surrounding the panel, known as a conference committee, centers not on whether the legislation will pass the G.O.P.-controlled Legislature, but on what measures it will include when it does.

After a late-night scramble of last-minute negotiations among lawmakers last week, it looked as if recently introduced voting options, such as drive-through voting and 24-hour voting, would survive Republicans initial attempt to ban them. The version of the bill passed by the State Senate would have prohibited those types of voting, but the House version passed last week made no mention of either provision.

However, State Senator Bryan Hughes, the Republican sponsor of the initial bill and one of the committee members who will shape the final version behind closed doors, said in an interview last week that he would like to see the provisions banning drive-through voting and 24-hour voting added back to the final bill.

It makes sense, Mr. Hughes said, citing internal polling suggesting that Texas voters preferred standardized hours for early voting across the state. So theres some predictability and people are confident that the rules are being followed.

The conference committee will meet this week to start crafting a final version of the bill, which would then be sent for a final up-or-down vote in both chambers. The Senate announced its members made up of four Republicans and one Democrat on Monday, and the House will make its appointments when the chamber convenes on Tuesday.

The bill initially sought a host of new restrictions on voting that would have had an outsize impact on voters in cities, most notably in Harris County, the biggest county in the state and home to Houston.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Harris County introduced a drive-through voting option, which more than 127,000 voters used in the general election. It also had a single day of 24-hour voting, which more than 10,000 voters used to cast ballots. The original bill that passed the House would have banned both of those methods, as well as placed limitations on the allocation of voting machines in counties with a population of more than one million, which election officials had said could force the closure of some polling locations.

But as the bill made its way through the Legislature, most of those provisions were removed. The bill as it passed the House included provisions greatly expanding the autonomy and authority of partisan poll watchers, included new penalties for election officials and workers who violate the rules, and barred officials from sending out absentee ballots to voters who have not requested them.

Mr. Hughes said he wanted the provisions against drive-through and 24-hour voting to be added back to the bill so there would be uniformity among counties in how elections are run.

Amid months of false claims by former President Donald J. Trump that the 2020 election was stolen from him,Republican lawmakers in many states are marching aheadto pass laws making it harder to vote and changing how elections are run, frustrating Democrats and even some election officials in their own party.

One county cant just make up the rules, Mr. Hughes said. Houstons not the capital of Texas. Harris County doesnt need to do that. Whether I like the change or I dislike it, one county cant just make up the rules on the fly. That doesnt work.

Democrats in the Legislature have argued that this logic hampers the administration of elections, which are best run when local officials are empowered to address problems in their communities.

You really cant have uniformity when every county is different. Harris County is different than Loving County, said Jessica Gonzlez, a state representative and the Democratic vice chair of the House Elections Committee, referring to a county in West Texas with less than 200 residents. And so, in my experience in doing voter protection work, its important that these elections officials are able to administer their elections, because theyre the ones who are actually on the ground and able to address those issues.

If legislators in Texas were to add back provisions from the version of the voting bill that initially passed the State Senate, the state would stand as somewhat of an outlier nationally. Republicans in other states have tended to remove some of the strictest measures from voting bills as they make their way through legislatures. Both Georgia and Florida initially introduced bills that featured much more strident restrictions such as limiting voting on Sunday or banning drop boxes before settling on final versions that allowed for some weekend voting and limited drop box usage.

Texas is one of the last major battleground states working toward an overhaul of its voting rules and regulations. The Legislature is in session until the end of May, so any law will have to be on its way to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, by midnight, June 1.

Go here to read the rest:
Just How Strict Will Texas Republicans Voting Bill Be? - The New York Times